The Adventuress: Encounters with Tarot cards, Godsigns -- and Batman

Oct. 11, 2012

Annie Truesdell (left) talks with Leslie Bailey about Godsigns, daily-life indicators that she says can help people understand present and future phenomena, in her studio in Greenwood, / Robert Scheer / The Star

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The story of this adventure starts less than an hour after I said goodbye to Annie Truesdell. It didn't start when I walked through the doors of the Inner Path spiritual store and a black cat crossed my path.

It didn't even start when Truesdell, a medium and spiritual counselor, suggested that I am clairvoyant.

No, it started when I was on my way home that evening, after stopping at Marsh for wine and chopped clams (I make a great linguine with clam sauce).

It began when I walked out of the store and smack into a man wearing a Batman shirt.

Batman! Don't you see?

No, of course you don't. We'll have to take a few steps back.

Annie Truesdell claims to be what she calls an intuitive. Several times a week, Truesdell provides Angel and Spirit readings at Inner Path on the city's southside. She uses her talent, as well as Tarot decks depicting angels, animals, and the typical Tarot characters. And she uses what she calls Godsign to receive and deliver messages.

Quick ---- look at the clock. What time does it show? And your shirt ---- what color is it? Been noticing a lot of butterflies lately? Take note of those too.

These are all Godsigns -- symbols in the world that can be read and understood as a universal language by those who are open to understanding it.

"Godsign is unique to everyone. People don't speak the same in Maine as they do in Montana as they do in Mississippi, and yet they're all speaking English. There's no right or wrong, it's all correct. Some people receive the messages through their dreams, others maybe music," she said.

I sat across from Truesdell at a card table covered in a royal purple cloth that matches her shirt. The black cat, Gypsy, circled under my feet.

"The Source ---- God, Spirit, Divine Consciousness, Infinite Intelligence, Allah, Krishna ---- whatever you want to call it, they will bring messages with colors and numbers and animals," she said.

I asked her the age-old question about signs: How does one know whether something is a sign or just coincidence?

"The third time (I receive a sign) I don't believe it. The 33rd time, I don't believe it. But the 133rd time, either I'm crazy or something is really going on. They will eventually get you to the 133rd then when they've got your attention, you'll get the message," she said.

At this point you might ask yourself, "Is she crazy?" I don't think so, but she is well aware that some would disagree.

"There are people in this city alone that will tell you I've murdered and that I'm going to hell and I can spend the rest of my life trying to spread light and love and peace and happiness and hope to people, and that won't change their minds, but it doesn't have to ---- it's not my job, and it's not source's job either."

That's a discussion that I can't begin to tackle here, but anyone who is an advocate of peace and happiness is all right by me. And I quite like the idea of personalized messages that inspire people to make the world a better place.

Truesdell took a moment to tell me what the universe had to say about what I was wearing.

"The green stripes are your heart chakra that's about love, growth and money. The white stripes are purity ---- you have a very pure heart, this is about you making more money in a pure way that's positive, and the blue is about communication. You are communicating in a pure way," she said.

That's all well and good, but I wanted to know about the dead people, the spirits. Does she see them? Hear them? Do they like my outfit?

Truesdell told me that her friend who died only two days ago had already starting to signal through sounds and numbers.

In the nicest way possible, I told her that I want to know what makes her special, why she has been chosen to read signs.

"Everybody can do this. Everybody is psychic. I'm tired of the psychics saying, 'Look at me, you have to come to me,' and that's not true. One reason the spirits had me hit the ground running to spread this message is because you have this, we all have this, whether you believe it or not," she said, laying three stacks of Tarot cards on the table.

She fanned one stack of cards facedown, saying, "Pick as many as you'd like."

I pulled out four cards. "Four is the number of balance. There are four seasons, so Mother Earth can have her balance. There's four points on the compass to find your way. There are four legs on a table. You're a very balanced individual, if you get multiple fours, those are angels saying hello," she said in one breath.

As we moved through the first stack of cards, the animal cards, Truesdell turned over a card with a bat on it.

"Bats are talking to you. This guy does it through echolocation -- when bats show up, Batman shows up, bat symbols show up -- that's spirit, that's your guardian, that's God saying, 'Listen to the sounds around you. I'm leading you with the sounds around you. We're taking you to a new level' This is a high card in the deck, it's a powerful animal, a higher level of understanding that you can help lead others," she said, again in one breath.

And one breath is exactly what I lost less than an hour later, when I walked into the man wearing a Batman shirt.